EXILE may have sold another 190,000 copies of their "EXILE BALLAD BEST" collection over these past two weeks, but the big winner on the charts was rock trio Ikimono Gakari, who picked up their first #1 with their album "My song Your song." Appearing at Kohaku Uta Gassen may have contributed to their 243,000 in sales, but they were already gaining steam throughout 2008.

GIRL NEXT DOOR also made the charts at #3 with their self-titled release, selling more than 171,000 copies.

Meanwhile, Kumi Koda claimed victory on the singles chart, moving 58,000 copies of "stay with me." The only other new releases in the top ten were two "Macross Frontier" songs at #7 and #8, and the latest from Kalafina at #9.

The so-called "Kohaku effect" was not very strong this year, but it did boost Junko Akimoto's "Ai no Mama de" to #3, making her the oldest artist (at 61) to reach the top three, as well as the first female enka artist to do so since 1988. Ayaka Hirahara's "Nocturne" also experienced a rise to #6.

On the overall DVD rankings, KAT-TUN's latest tour DVD took #1 with 171,000 in sales. This is their 6th consecutive release to top the music DVD charts.